Have you ever used a dating app? Felt nervous about not knowing what to expect? Well, the protagonist of today’s movie is very nervous, especially when she starts receiving increasingly unsettling messages on her phone. Drop taps directly into this contemporary anxiety, transforming a fancy dinner date into a harrowing high-stakes hostage situation orchestrated entirely through the seemingly innocuous interface of a phone. The film presents a chillingly plausible nightmare where technology designed to connect people becomes a terrifying instrument of coercion and surveillance, forcing its protagonist into an impossible game where every notification could mean life or death.

Released with a PG-13 rating, Drop marks a return to the pure thriller genre for Christopher Landon, a filmmaker celebrated for skillfully blending horror and comedy in hits like Happy Death Day and Freaky. Leading the cast is Meghann Fahy, whose star rose rapidly after her Emmy-nominated role in The White Lotus,...